I want to change the past

Chapter One

The explosion had shook the entire vicinity of sector one, even now people were running in blind circles trying to figure out what had happened, no one knew.

Cloud ran through the streets trying to get away from the scene of the explosion before anyone could see him, he was an ex ShinRa SOLDIER who was now doing odd jobs for people, in this case AVALANCHE, a small rebel group opposing the ShinRa. The group, and Cloud as he considered himself to be a separate force, had blown up one of ShinRa's Mako reactors. As he ran down one alley a girl in a pink dress help out a hand to stop him.

'Hey, umm…excuse me…but what's going on?' The girl inquired, she held on her arm a basket of flowers with a price tag saying 1gil.

'Nothing…hey, listen…flowers are supposed to be really hard to grow in Midgar aren't they, you sell them?'

'Oh! Yes, you want one? It's only 1gil.'

Cloud thought for a moment, hey why not, it was only 1gil and it wasn't as if he was going to get anything else for that amount of money. He nodded quickly and handed the girl the gil.

'You better get somewhere safe in case of another explosion.'

The flower girl nodded and adjusted her basket of flowers before walking off out of sector one. It seemed to be the only exit from the sector.

Cloud shrugged and started his dash for the train station again, running to the south of the theatre he came across a tunnel, but no station, it must be back the other way. Cursing Cloud turned, but as he was about to run off again a shout stopped him. ShinRa SOLDIERS blocked his way, he backed off and ran back towards the tunnel, more SOLDIERS appeared to his left and right. He was surrounded with his back to the edge of the bridge, great, the SOLDIERS raised their guns but before they could shoot Cloud drew his buster sword and cleaved two of them in half, the others did not react in time to prevent Cloud from jumping over the side of the bridge and landing on the roof of the passing train. Cloud smirked to himself. Perfectly executed plan.

He didn't notice the two crimson eyes watching him from the roof top.

'Interesting…'

The voice and the eyes belonged to a very strange girl indeed, her appearance made her a social outcast, deemed a monster and a omen of death, though the latter was more due to her reputation. You see, she always seemed to show up right before someone dear to her acquaintance suffered a tragic and often horrifying death. Her true name was Tanya, the population had deemed her 'Eclipse.'

Eclipse was an Anthro, more commonly known as 'Half-Breeds', they were half human half animal creatures. The two most common kinds of Anthro being feline and canine, feline were, as their name suggests, half cat creatures and canine Anthro were half wolf creatures. The two were locked in an eternal war, despising each other almost as much as humans despised them. There were two 'stages' of Anthromorphic being. Anthro being the term for half human half animal appearance, and full Anthro being the term for those who were complete animals who, however, retained the human ability to think and speak logically. Full Anthros could be very dangerous due to their human-like cunning yet their animalistic ways of self-defence, namely claws and fangs.

Eclipse was a canine Anthro, her hands were bigger than normal, covered with a dense fur up to just below the elbow and claws took the place of nails, the same went for her bare feet, fur covered the skin half until about way up the shin and claws helping her get a grip on the metal roof. The teeth were all sharper than usual, but not by much, save the incisors in her top jaw which were fully formed fangs. Her ears were not normal either, being huge furry and pointed and situated on the top of her head. Her eyes flashed crimson in the shiny metal, yet another reminder that she was not normal….not normal. Hissing to herself through her teeth she swished her long wolf-like tail around behind her as she traversed the roof tops, heading back to her home in the loosest sense of the word.

She was not unsightly to look at, that's what confused most people, she was clearly a monster, but she was quiet pretty. Her long black hair just a tad longer than shoulder length, the fur on her arms, legs, ears and tail a blood red and she was slightly underweight. The last one not being by choice, she was a thief, or rather a mugger, she had got herself in with the wrong crowd. She had wanted to prove herself to the bums who had been teasing her because she was a girl, she was an Anthro. A bit of Anthro history here, Anthro were stupidly powerful, they believed this was because they worshiped the water, the water was god, the water created life and destroyed life as it saw fit. But in reality, Eclipse had discovered, they were just amazingly strong beings.

Upon entering the dingy, half destroyed house in sector seven she sighed, it was too empty now that Reno had gone. Lucky bastard, he'd stolen the wallet of a ShinRa exec and not only had he managed to get away alive and with the wallet, the next day the exec had come looking for him to give him a job in the Turks. Idiots got all the luck. Shaking her bangs out of her face she flopped down on the sofa and pulled out her one possession, a book. It was a book about the world in which they lived, it provided and interesting coverage on things she'd never see again stuck here in Midgar.

'Heeeeey! Looky what we got here!'

Eclipse sighed as the book was wrenched from her hands by an over excited human, about her age, taller and with wild green hair. 'Good job we found you little sister! A few more moments reading this and you woulda been comatose.' He winked slyly and tossed the book over his shoulder before sitting himself on the arm of the sofa.

'I thought I told you to stop calling me that, I am in no way related to you, and I hope to god, I really do that it will stay that way Kai.'

Kai just gave a grin and closed his eyes reclining on the sofa arm as if he hadn't heard. Wait, hadn't Kai said…'we?'

Eclipse glanced up to see the more subdued, and frankly more bearable of her two human partners standing behind the sofa. 'Hey Yuan, you in? I hope you did the rounds today cause im hungry and I didn't have time to gather anything. You know Kai won't have.

'On the contrary! Little sister! I did so do my rounds today, and I got enough food for us all, I guess I was motivated by the lack of store guards.'

Eclipse rolled her eyes, figures that Kai would only gather food for them if there was absolutely no threat to himself at all.

'Wait a minute, no store guards did you say? Why?'

Kai looked thoughtful for a moment, chewing on a mouthful of bread and blinking slowly as if he was trying to remember something.

'Oh yeah! I remember now, some guy with blonde spiky hair and his friends blew up the number one reactor, I was impressed. Course he had to screw it up buy letting the SOLDIERS track him down didn't he. Fool.'

Eclipse frowned, blonde guy with spiky hair… that guy she had seen jumping the train? Duh, how many guys with blonde spiky hair were there, and he was running from SOLDIERS. This called for investigation.

'I'll be back in a moment.' With that she leapt of the sofa and ran on all fours to the train station intending to follow the tracks, but as she got there the very guy she was looking for and two girls ran past. She dove behind a few garbage bags to hide from them.

Cloud's day was not going well, he had gone through all of that rubbish, dressing like a girl to save Tifa from Corneo only to find out ShinRa planned to bring the plate down on the sector seven slums.

'Just great.' He muttered, dashing along the front of the sector seven train station, Tifa and Aeris, his childhood friend and the flower girl he'd met earlier, following close behind. They ran to the base of the support pillar, finding the security gate open and gunfire resounding from the top level.

'I heard their gonna try and drop the plate!'

Cloud turned to see a man he vaguely knew as Rai the weapon seller looking from him to the pillar worriedly. He just nodded in reply.

'Shit!'

Eclipse cursed from the hiding spot and shook her head in disbelief at what she had just seen and heard. 'The entire plate? They'll damn crush us all! What's the damn idea!' She watched the blonde and the girl in white run up the stairs of the pillar, only pausing to leap from her hiding spot she ran to the steps and gazed upwards, long way to the top.

'AHHHHH! It's The Eclipse! This just proves it… we're all dead!'

Eclipse flinched back slightly as everyone glared at her in fury, she glanced round at all the faces and shook her head sadly. Then remembering the pillar she growled and ran up them, reverting to all fours for extra speed. She saw some nasty sights on the way up, a girl and a boy younger than herself lying in pools of their own blood, dying slowly.

'No doubt this will be blamed on me also,' She stated quietly as she knelt next to the body of the young man. Clearing her head she continued her dash up the stairs clearing four at a time in her hurry. When she reached the top she spotted Spiky and the girl along with a coloured man she'd never seen before. He had a huge gun in place of his lower right arm.

'Here! Who are you?'

Cloud had spotted the Anthro girl and took a step forward, his hand outstretched towards her, she stood up and looked over at the group. Like most canines she only stood on the tips of her feet, the odd canine shape of her legs showed, through the black slacks she wore, quiet well.

'No time, I'll talk later, this bomb cannot go off, I have too much to lose in sector seven to allow this to happen.' She wondered briefly why she had said all of that about Kai and Yuan, but it soon hit her that they were the only family she had, and were they only people who didn't scream, recoil or run at the sight of her. Then again, neither had these people. Shaking it off as a moot point she walked over to the control panel and cracked her fingers, ok, time to do what she did best, mess with electronic equipment.

'You know how to stop this thing?'

The brown haired girl had walked up to her shoulder and peered over it at the screen below.

'This is odd,' Eclipse stated, her head cocked to one side, she absently tapped a claw on the metal frame round the panel. 'It cannot be disarmed….not even by hackers….'

'Oh no!' The girl panicked and buried her head in her hands to stop herself from crying. For once Eclipse felt pity, but it was rudely interrupted by the sound of chopper blades and the thud of someone landing on metal.

'I'd get away from that panel if I were you,' the voice belonged to a young man with flaming red hair and a sloppy blue suit. 'I don't want to have to hurt you Eclipse.'

Eclipse felt her hands clenching and her tail twitching violently behind her as if it were on fire.

'Eclipse!' The other girl turned and frowned at her, 'You're The Eclipse? So that's why you didn't tell us your name!'

Eclipse gazed at her and sighed lightly, shaking her head, then she turned her gaze back to the man before her.

'Reno….please, stop the timer, how can you let that thing blow. It will kill Kai and Yuan, we were a team…we were...' She stopped herself but stood on the spot and shook.

'Afraid I can't do that Clips. After all, we're on different sides now.' Reno pointed his Electro-Mag-Rod at her and gave a sad smile.

Eclipse lowered her head sadly, since when had they been on separate sides, she didn't have a side…

'I'm on no one's side Reno, I'm on my own side, I just want to save the only people who care about me.'

Reno gazed at her for a moment, then he too lowered his head, this was not gonna be easy…he held out one arm in invitation.

Eclipse took it, running up to him and hugging him tightly, unable to stop the tears flowing.

Reno looked down at her and a flash of pain and sadness crossed his features as the emotional wreck that was Eclipse let go of him and walked towards the stairs.

'Tha' was the great Eclipse!'

The coloured man snorted in disgust, he hated weak people, he hated weak people with great reputations even more.

'Shut…your...god damn mouth!'

Reno had his head lowered still, his gaze on the floor, his hand clenched tightly around the Electro-Mag-Rod. 'You know nothin! You know nothin of the shit she gets! And for what? A bunch of bull she didn't even have anything to do with! You know NOTHING!' Reno dove for the brown haired girl his weapon brandished to deliver a fatal blow.

Eclipse stopped and watched in horror, the girl hadn't even done anything, it was the coloured guy who had mouthed off…she narrowed her eyes, she did not like pointless violence.

Tifa had braced herself for the killer hit and cowered on the floor, having no time to protect herself, the hit never came. A streak of black and red flew in front of her and there was the sound of a thwack followed by a grunt of pain and a thud as a body hit metal. When she opened her eyes she saw The Eclipse standing over Reno who was recovering on the floor. The Eclipse did not look happy, her fists were clenched so tight that her own claws cut into her hands causing them to bleed, her ears were plastered back against her head in an instinctive reaction and her tail bristled.

'Ahh…motherfuckin shit Eclipse…thought you didn't take fuckin sides! Thought you were my fuckin…friend…'

Eclipse glared down at him and unclenched her hands as the pain bit in. She didn't move but she spoke.

'Wrong. True I don't take sides, I am still not taking a side. But I am not your…friend. You are not Reno, I was close to Reno, not who you are now. Pointless and vicious acts of violence.' She looked calm and stoic now, except her tail that swished from side to side lazily. 'You've changed.'

Reno stood slowly, the backhand from Eclipse had knocked him back a few good feet which didn't surprise him as it did AVALANCHE, he knew about Anthro. He walked around Eclipse heading for the railing with his hands in front of him to show he wasn't going to attack anyone. He had dropped his weapon in surprise anyway. The sound of chopper blades thundered through the enclosed space and Reno sighed noticeably.

'Am sorry Clips…sorry I couldn't be the guy you wanted me to be. I really am. I guess I deserve everything you give me now.'

Eclipse gave a sad nod and bent over to scoop up Reno's Electro-Mag-Rod from the floor where he had dropped it.

'I'm sorry too Ren, I wish it didn't have to be this way, just remember, I'm on no one's side. I was only trying to stop you from doing something you'd regret.' she proved the words were genuine by tossing him his weapon. 'Also…before you go…' she sprung clear over AVALANCHE, with a jump dragoons would envy, to land beside him lightly.

Reno gave her a questioning look that didn't last long as she captured his lips in a passionate kiss that he slowly warmed to and, as he had many a time before returned it, wrapping his arms round her softly and pulling her close. As she pulled away Eclipse gave him an affectionate nip with one of her fangs and smiled slightly at him. 'Don't worry Ren, I'll always be there, to protect you or…' she smirked knowingly at him '…To stop you screwing up as usual.'

'Hey! I don't 'screw up' I….genuinely fail!' Reno laughed and gave her a soft bat with his hand, then with a slow wave turned and jumped over the railing surrounding the platform.

Tifa let out a slight gasp that vanished as a chopper flew up, Reno had obviously jumped onto the craft. But the man on the side platform was not Reno, this one even Eclipse didn't recognise. That was clear from the way she bristled and her ears pulled back apprehensively, she sensed danger.

'Who the hell are you!'

Cloud had took a step forward and pulled out his buster sword in a half threatening manner, but Eclipse stopped him when she noticed the girl in pink crouched next to him.

'That girl is a friend of yours, I think? It would not be wise to act rashly.'

Cloud's eyes narrowed as he recognised the girl on the chopper, of all the dirty stunts to pull, this was the lowest….

'What are you gonna do to Aeris! And just who are you anyway!'

'SHUT UP!' it took Cloud a moment to realise the harsh snap came from the normally quiet Eclipse. She let out a breath, 'I know how to deal with people like this, do not anger them,' She glanced back up to the dark haired man. 'Let's handle this logically you are wearing the same uniform as Reno, except in a tidier fashion, so you are obviously a Turk and a higher rank than Reno, Reno is second in command, which out of sheer elimination, makes you the boss. You are Wutainian because you are lightly tanned and you were exiled as you have that dot on your head.'

The Wutan looked down on her, obviously impressed, but even though, he still carried that wry smirk and professional 'friendly neighbourhood assassin' look about him.

'Tseng, leader of the Turks, your logic is admirable and I'm impressed, but I really must go, got to deliver the package.'

'You mean that girl? Gee, seems a bit extreme to get a girlfriend, crush an entire sector….'

'Ahh she's not my girlfriend, she's a Cetra, that…and well it was also to crush a small rebel group by the name of AVALANCHE.' Tseng gestured to the people behind her. 'So if you don't mind, I'll be off.' The chopper took off and flew away from sector seven, but not before Reno yelled out the window.

'Get out of there alive Eclipse! Screw those morons! I need you to stop me screwing up!' His voice was pained and he sounded near tears as the chopper zoomed past them and vanished into the distance.

Eclipse stared after it longingly. Then the pillar shook. She teetered slightly then regained her balance.

'Shit!'

Tifa started for the stairs but Eclipse grabbed her arm shaking her head, not a good idea then Tifa guessed.

'That's twice you've saved me, remind me to thank you later! Your not the evil person people make you out to be!'

Eclipse just snorted.

'Feh!'

Barret had stopped near where Reno had jumped the railing, he was holding a wire in his left hand and smiling broadly.

'We can ge' out wi' this!'

Cloud nodded his approval and he, Tifa and Barret jumped on though they didn't move, they were waiting for Eclipse. However Eclipse growled at them and shoved Barret from behind.

'Not enough strength in the wire, you go, I'll wait.'

'Yer nuts!'

Eclipse gave a grin and then shoved him hard enough to dislodge him, Cloud, him and Tifa swung over to the playground area and landed safely, then the wire began to swing back up towards the pillar. Slowly. A huge chunk of metal slammed down behind her and she jumped onto the railing, as she balanced on the railing more fell almost dislodging her, not enough time! She jumped off the railing and closed her eyes as the entire thing gave way behind her with a crash and a huge explosion, she was falling fast as the air ripped at her clothes, but her canine reflexes came in top notch and she lashed out one arm, snatching the end of the wire just barely, it swung her to the playground where she left go and landed softly beside Tifa.

'Holy shi' man! Don' ever pull summit like tha' ever 'gain!'

Cloud and Tifa looked pale with fright and Barret just looked plain shocked. The silence lasted a good five minutes before Barret clapped her on the shoulder and gave a grin. 'Am impressed tho' nice goin' kid.'

Tifa nodded with a small smile and Cloud just laughed with relief as Eclipse raised an eyebrow.

'So what? Am I being praised or scolded for it?' She laughed lightly and shook her head. 'You guys are all screw ups. Numskull screw ups.' It was then she remembered Kai, and Yuan. 'DAMN! KAI! YUAN! MY HOME!' She growled and dashed up to the wreckage of sector seven, pounding and scratching at it with her claws, Barret soon joined her, yelling about his daughter Marlene.

'Um Barret, Aries took Marlene to a safe place, I'm sure she's fine,' Tifa turned to Eclipse, 'But your friends and your home…I'm sorry, they won't have made it out of that…'

Eclipse nodded her agreement sadly, then shook her head.

'At least I got to see Reno one last time'…she lowered her gaze.

'The Eclipse, did you and Reno, have something more than friend-'

Eclipse raised a hand and smiled at Tifa before running the hand through her hair to straighten it out.

'Call me Eclipse, that's my name after all. Not 'The Eclipse' and before you ask, I'm not gonna bring doom to you or anything. All that is a bunch of crap. I have this bad habit of trying to help people in danger, and when I fail people blame me because I was at the scene of the death….and I'm different…' She'd successfully avoided the question, Eclipse smiled, 'Oh I'm good!'

Tifa nodded knowingly, she understood what Eclipse meant, after all it was hard to be different in a world that demanded everyone be the same.

'You mean people need someone to blame, and they use you as a scapegoat, it gets easier as the rumour spreads too I guess. If you don't mind me asking….er…what-'

'You mean to ask what am I, it's ok, it's not distasteful, I am an Anthro, half human half animal people. There are two major species of us cat and wolf, feline and canine. There are also full Anthro, but those are rare, their like full animals with the speech and wit of humans.'

Cloud blinked and put his hand to his head in deep thought, Anthro…Anthro….where had he heard that before….no matter. He simply nodded and turned to walk away from the scene.

'Let's go to Aeris house and talk to her mother, she may know something. Are you coming with us Eclipse?'

Eclipse frowned in thought, might be worth it, just as long as to help them get Aries back anyway…that way she could get home quickly….again home in the loosest sense of the word.

'I will go with you until you get Aeris back, then I must return to Gongaga, to my original birthplace…to my home.'

The three nodded and the group of four headed out of the playground towards sector five and Aeris house.